


Perceive

by Scifiroots



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: M/M, One Shot, POV Second Person, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-07
Updated: 2006-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-18 14:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scifiroots/pseuds/Scifiroots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a prompt on csi_casefiles... "He's been watching  you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perceive

He's been watching you. His eyes trail after you every time you pass the lab. You've seen and even felt how your presence changes him—his posture straightens, his cocky grin softens, becomes more sincere... He rambles and peppers his speech with random tidbits of information, strange facts that you know only half of the time. The other day he scrounged up the courage to seek you out and ask for a straight out answer if he could be assigned in the field. The thought of his presence next to you as you process evidence for hours on end makes your heart skip a beat; you're unsure if you can handle that. So you tell him that he must find a replacement for himself in the lab—after all, he's amazing at what he does. Certainly he gets better pay than he would in the field, better than even a supervisor's position. Logically you know that this must be tied to the lab explosion in the past year, but you can't help but wonder if this is the next step—his only option to get closer to you. Surely that's too egotistical.

You can remember when you first began to notice him, how his eyes focused intently on the person in front of him, singling them out for the flirting session of the hour. He moved from person to person with a casualness of a bee collecting pollen. You knew there was nothing serious about to develop and it didn't matter to you, either... For a while, at least. And even after it began to matter to you—when you started watching him—you told yourself that involving yourself with anyone, especially at work, would be a disaster. You thought you got past it.

Then the lab exploded and the world started on fire, destroying everything you had once been held to be true. Striding alongside the gurney carrying his charred body had been one of the hardest things you've had to do. It's right up there with having to face Warrick about his gambling addiction, comforting Catherine when Eddie was murdered and her daughter almost drowned, and going to pick up Sara when she was taken in for driving under the influence. You can't deny any longer that you're involved in some way with everyone on your shift. They're your community, your support network, even though you disclose little to nothing personal about yourself with them.

He started watching you after he came back from the hospital. You're not sure why. Did he remember you hovering over him before the ambulance took him away? Had he seen you visiting when you thought he was asleep? Or had he noticed something in you expression when you noticed his shaking hands and offered to talk? What was it that caused the change?

His gaze is focused and purposeful these days. He doesn't stutter or speak nearly as fast as he used to, when he said you intimidated him— Sometimes you wish that you still did; he now intimidates you. You have the feeling that some day he's going to break you, cripple your barriers and storm into your soul, into your inner sanctum where no one trespasses. He could, and you fear that you'll let him in, even more than if he attacked.


End file.
